Leonard Nimoy: 14 Things You Didn’t Know About His Career
Leonard Nimoy leaves a proud legacy as an actor, teacher, philanthropist and advocate for many of the qualities he infused in his enduring alter-ego, the science- and logic-loving Mr. Spock of “Star Trek.”
But who knew Nimoy once owned a pet shop in Canoga Park? Or that he teamed with Vic Morrow in 1962 to produce an indie film based on Jean Genet’s edgy play “Deathwatch.” Or that he paid for and narrated a TV special, “If The Mind Is Free,” that aired only in Chicago to raise money for the city’s St. Mary High School.
Here are 14 intriguing tidbits about Nimoy’s life and work as culled from the pages of Variety.
“Kid Monk Baroni”
“Deathwatch”
Given the chance, Nimoy could have solved the problems of pilot season decades ago. With Spock-like precision, he lays out a case for why the television should be respected as a creative medium and makes a case for improving the series production process in an 800-word essay he wrote for Daily Variety’s 35th anniversary edition, published Oct. 29, 1968. Here’s an excerpt from “Thank God It’s Friday”:
Join me in Utopia for a moment. It’s the fall of 1968. Network A contracts with producer B for 26 segments of his hour series C, to premiere in the fall of 1969. The commitment is firm. There can be no hedging, no reverse decisions from higher up, no “subject to whims of the sponsor” clauses.
The producer is now free (and funded) to fully develop an entire season of scripts. He can imme- diately assemble (or reassemble) his cast. Directors can be assign- ed. Once the scripts are completed, and only then, would they be submitted to “the committee.” All the creative people would have their chance to contribute, to sift, to reevaluate.
The producer could plan set construction, pick locations for all the episodes, thereby saving huge chunks of time and money. He could avoid the needless, wasteful building, tearing down and re- building of sets necessitated by today’s hand-to-mouth system.
In summary, all the logistics for the year would be mapped out. Everything creative, except actual filming, would be accomplished before a single camera turns. Once shooting begins, the six days allotted each segment would be devoted to nothing but putting fine performances on film.
Economically unfeasible? On the contrary, the reduction in production costs alone would more than defray the costs of longer-term salaries. Too risky for the network? I don’t think so. By not committing early, by riding the ratings see-saw until the last second, by wasting weeks and month jockeying for position, the manip- ulators become the manipulated. The network and the series are on the ropes before the fight begins.
Time is the threat, exhaustion and pap the inevitable consequence. Let’s stop treating television like a passing fad.
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